I know that Griner is patrolling the middle, but is taking long jumpers early in the clock really the best strategy for Kursk? And why did Mondelo play one American at a time when UMMC was making their comeback from a big deficit?

_________________We live in a political world
Love don't have any place
We're living in times
Where men commit crimes
And crime don't have any face

I hear you! I don't understand how or why on earth he sat all of them as if he didn't see that huge lead dwindling play by play. They were in sync well and Angel in particular looked really good before he sat them. Not intending to be a conspiracy theorist and you completely expect UMMC not to go down without a fight, but it almost looked intentional...I don't know... With that said, it's hard to determine how many fouls the Kursk ladies had so maybe that was part of it.

It's funny, Toliver hadn't played in the previous two games and I was thinking perhaps she couldn't. I suppose there is just a limit of foreign players they can play and they decided to sit Torrens and Messeman. Good to see that Anna Cruz seems to have found her shot. On to game 5 on Monday!

Yeah, UMMC has another player that kind of looks like Meesseman from a distance, but she's skinnier and has more bone structure in her face.

Amazing that Kursk hung in as long as they did. No one was shooting well from outside until Cruz hit a couple at the end. Angel was useless after early in the 2nd Quarter. Nneka didn't get going until midway through the 3rd Quarter. Piph couldn't make an outside shots but did create a bit off the dribble. UMMC also literally got all the good bounces. I counted at least a half- dozen shots that bounced around off the rim or backboard before dropping in. Nonetheless, UMMC executed when they had to and Kursk just sort of panicked and hoisted threes. The more deserving team won.

Did anyone else notice that the cheerleaders were wearing these skippy "Funny Foxes" uniforms that had the players names and numbers on their backs? I spotted a Toliver and a Nolan.

_________________We live in a political world
Love don't have any place
We're living in times
Where men commit crimes
And crime don't have any face

Yeah, UMMC has another player that kind of looks like Meesseman from a distance, but she's skinnier and has more bone structure in her face.

Amazing that Kursk hung in as long as they did. No one was shooting well from outside until Cruz hit a couple at the end. Angel was useless after early in the 2nd Quarter. Nneka didn't get going until midway through the 3rd Quarter. Piph couldn't make an outside shots but did create a bit off the dribble. UMMC also literally got all the good bounces. I counted at least a half- dozen shots that bounced around off the rim or backboard before dropping in. Nonetheless, UMMC executed when they had to and Kursk just sort of panicked and hoisted threes. The more deserving team won..

Yes, it was weird. Kursk went from great execution to not being able to hit or defend anything without fouling. They seemed unable to find a rhythm again after the starters sat for such a long stretch but hey it's basketball. UMMC definitely pulled it together and executed to get the W!

ArtBest23, I'm hoping so but haven't been able to find any details just yet.

I think Gala is just really stugglin' to get anything going and MoJeff is trying. You are right, she looks better with the ball in her hand and there was one fast break where if you somehow forgot how fast she is, you are quickly reminded! *Meep meeeep!*

Yep, Fener is having their way. Shucks I missed the score as they went into half-time but they are up ~20.

Just saw the last few minutes of the Russian League final. It was a good one and UMMC took home the trophy over the Dynamo Kursk (this year's Euroleague champs) 83-82 salvaging their season a bit. Side note: For all of Taurasi's craziness, she is still clutch!

Taurasi just went insane in those last 5 minutes How many pts did she have? Everytime she had an answer. She was laughing at Prince when she answered Prince 3 pointer with her own 3pointer

She almosted risked it all with that Unsportsmanlike foul though. You cant make those intentional 'grab you by the arm fouls to stop the fastbreak' in FIBA play. She probably forgot that those fouls arent allowed here. In the NBA/WNBA they allow it.

I was expecting Angel to step up and guard Taurasi in those last minutes. Instead she was just chilling and guarding Arteshina who is as slow as my grandmother and only stands at the wing all game long.
Olaf Lange took a big risk by having Arteshina guard Angel. He probably thought her length (6'2-6'3) would bother Angel but she is very slow on her feet.

_________________"Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson were and are the dynamic duo. They're the one-two punch. They're all the clich�s possible to describe people that perfectly complement each other, who make each other better and also bring out the best in the team." �Karen Bryant

She almosted risked it all with that Unsportsmanlike foul though. You cant make those intentional 'grab you by the arm fouls to stop the fastbreak' in FIBA play. She probably forgot that those fouls arent allowed here. In the NBA/WNBA they allow it.

The problem is that sometimes you can. It ends up depending on how 'intentional' it looks, and which ref's calling the foul, and what side of the bed the ref got out of, and god knows what else. I hate 'take fouls' with a passion, and I like that FIBA at least try to punish them enough to push them out of the game, but I don't think FIBA refs are entirely consistent with that call either. It's better than the NBA/WNBA's 'clear path foul' nonsense, but it's far from perfect.

Taurasi was unreal down the stretch. Absolute vintage DT. Miserable turnover from Kirilova right at the end. If Kursk wanted to go small, so with Vadeeva/Ciak both on the bench, they didn't really have another perimeter player they'd want out there. And that's whose hands the ball ended up in.

She almosted risked it all with that Unsportsmanlike foul though. You cant make those intentional 'grab you by the arm fouls to stop the fastbreak' in FIBA play. She probably forgot that those fouls arent allowed here. In the NBA/WNBA they allow it.

The problem is that sometimes you can. It ends up depending on how 'intentional' it looks, and which ref's calling the foul, and what side of the bed the ref got out of, and god knows what else. I hate 'take fouls' with a passion, and I like that FIBA at least try to punish them enough to push them out of the game, but I don't think FIBA refs are entirely consistent with that call either. It's better than the NBA/WNBA's 'clear path foul' nonsense, but it's far from perfect.

Taurasi was unreal down the stretch. Absolute vintage DT. Miserable turnover from Kirilova right at the end. If Kursk wanted to go small, so with Vadeeva/Ciak both on the bench, they didn't really have another perimeter player they'd want out there. And that's whose hands the ball ended up in.

Yeah sometimes when it looks like you go for the steal they allow it. But Taurasi was behind her and slapped her pretty hard with clearly no intention to go for the ball. Easy call IMO

The last play from Kursk was weird. Angel inbounding the ball but they hardly looked at her. She wasnt even a decoy or whatever.

_________________"Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson were and are the dynamic duo. They're the one-two punch. They're all the clich�s possible to describe people that perfectly complement each other, who make each other better and also bring out the best in the team." �Karen Bryant

YD came back from a ten point hole to take the lead. Then the coach took out McBride for a rest and they promptly fell behind by nine again.

_-------------

Besiktas leads by 1 at the end of 3Q.
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Yakin Dogu leads by one with less than 2 minutes to go. Sloot just had a good chance to make the lead 3, but her layup rimmed out and Stokes got the rebound.

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Besiktas scores to take the lead, but with 25 seconds left, McBride on an in bounds play hits another jumper to take the lead, Besiktas turns the ball over, and Yakin Dogu wins 77-76. McBride finishes with 27 pts.

I think, but I'm not certain, that Besiktas is eliminated and Yakin Dogu advances to the finals.

Yakin Dogu won 74-59 and moves on to the finals. Besiktas is eliminated.

This was, in the end, a textbook example of no matter where you're playing, in the end you have to be able to score. YD has more players who can shoot, can score, can create a shot, and can score from a variety of places on the court. Their bigs, especially Quanitra Hollingsworth and Angelica Robinson, played good physical defense under the basket and really made Besiktas's inside game difficult. Vandersloot had 22 and YD simply had more varied firepower on a day that McBride was cold as ice and only scored 8 (vs 26 and 27 the first two games).

The final series, which I assume will be against Fenerbahce, should be entertaining.

It's interesting in the Fenerbahce game that the Turkish TV network uses Candace Williams as the name for Parker. Even her uniform uses Parker. I guess the TV network doesn't recognize her use of her own name.

The most interesting story of the series is Fenerbahce's president attacking YDU's president, leading to them both being suspended. YDU's president used to be on Fener's board.

I must say that in the games I've watched, Parker has been thoroughly underwhelming throughout these playoffs. It's like she's just going through the motions and collecting a paycheck. Oh, except when she's complaining to the refs (which is frequent). THEN she shows some enthusiasm.